The two faces of Australian coal (The Tree)

Coal mining in Australia looks to be increasingly disconnected from reality of late. The industry’s push to massively expand operations in the Galilee basin continues to enjoy strong support from State and Federal Coalition governments, of both political persuasions. This is at a time when both the international market and domestic investment are slumping, creating losses. A new Greenpeace report has warned that Indian conglomerate Adani’s Galilee project is “uncommercial“, and as global climate action grows, the divestment movement gathers pace, and the realities of unburnable carbon loom increasingly large in the minds of investors, the future for coal is anything but rosy. As many people have predicted – the Galilee basin could become a wasteland of stranded assets.

The coal industry appears to be increasingly delusional about its future, pushing for expansion as investment slows, pretending to acknowledge the climate imperative while supporting the repeal of carbon pricing, and claiming it is shyand green when it is anything but. Despite State and Federal government enthusiasm to expand coal mining and the industry’s willingness to make increasingly risky bets, there is no future for growing coal use in a world struggling to stay under 2DegC of global warming. The vast majority of Australia’s coal reserves – particularly in the Galilee basin – must stay in the ground if the world is to have any hope of addressing climate change.